14. VICE MAYOR SHIRLYN L. BAÑAS-NOGRALES, ET AL., petitioners vs.

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, respondent.

[G.R. No. 246328. September 10, 2019.]

FACTS:
This is a Petition for Review under Rule 64 of the Rules of Court assailing COMELEC Resolution
No. 10524 dated April 11, 2019. On March 11, 2019, President Duterte signed into law RA 11243. Under
said law, the 1st District was reapportioned, thereby creating the lone legislative district of General
Santos City. Under Sec. 1 of said law, it states that the creation “was to commence in the next national
and local elections after the effectivity of the Act.” Consequently, it took effect on April 4, 2019 – just
over a month before the 2019 general elections. Thereafter, COMELEC was mandated to issue the
necessary rules and regulations to implement the law. On April 11, 2019, COMELEC issued the assailed
Resolution, the pertinent portions of which read:

Sec. 3
Xxx
a) SUSPENDS the election of the Representatives for the 1st legislative District, including General Santos
City, xxx scheduled on May 13, 2019. In case the position for Member, House of Representatives in the
1st legislative District xxx is voted upon in the xxx elections, all votes for the said position shall be
considered stray; and

b) SETS the first regular election for the new Representatives of the 1st and 3 rd legislative Districts of the
Province of South Cotabato, within six months from May 13, 2019.

Sec. 4. Incumbent Representative – The incumbent Representatives of the 1st and 2 nd Legislative
Districts of the Province of South Cotabato shall continue to represent the legislative districts until noon
of June 30, 2019.

Petitioners contest the validity of the assailed Resolution for violating RA 7166 which states that
the elections for elective members of the House of Representatives shall be on the second Monday of
May, every three years. Petitioners also averred that scheduling the first regular election “within six
months from May 13, 2019” violated RA 11243 because the said law intended the reapportionment to
commence in the next national and local elections after the effectivity of the Act, or on the second
Monday of May 2022 – not May 13, 2019. Petitioners also questioned COMELEC’s directive to allow the
1st District’s incumbent representative to continue in a holdover capacity because it would be extending
his term of office for another three years without being elected by the people.

ISSUES:
I. Whether or not the assailed resolution and its pertinent portions are valid
II. When Congress intended R.A. No. 11243 to be implemented

HELD: Yes. As to the first issue, the Court referred to Sections 7 and 8, Art. VI of the 1987
Constitution, which provide:

Sec. 7 - The Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a term of three
years which shall begin, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June
next following their elections.No Member of the House of Representatives shall serve for more than
three consecutive terms. Xxx

Sec. 8 - Unless otherwise provided by law, the regular election of the xxx Members of the House
of Representatives shall be held on the second Monday of May.

The Constitution is clear. The term “unless otherwise provided by law” contemplates two
situations: (1) when the law specifically states when the elections should be held on a date other than
the second Monday of May; and (2) when the law delegates the setting of the date of the elections to
COMELEC. RA 11243 did not specifically provide for a different date. Neither did it delegate unto
COMELEC the setting of a different date.

The issue lies in ascertaining when Congress intended RA 11243 to be implemented. The law
was passed with the view of implementing the reapportionment of the 1st Legislative District of the
Province of South Cotabato at the most feasible and practicable time, i.e., during the next elections on
the second Monday of May 2022. Congress could not have intended to enforce the said law during the
2019 general elections as the election period had already begun when RA 11243 was enacted. To
require implementation last May 13, 2019 would lead COMELEC to act precipitously.

If we were to follow COMELEC’s interpretation, an incongruity would result as the winning candidate in
COMELEC’s special elections would serve a term less than that provided in Sec. 7 of the Constitution.
The elections for the 1st Legislative District of the Province of South Cotabato should not have been
suspended and the candidate obtaining the most number of votes for the said position must be
proclaimed.

WHEREFORE, petition is granted and the COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 is declared NULL and VOID.